The Best – and Worst – Places to Write

There comes a point in every freelance writer’s career where he simply can’t take it any more.

Unless he’s leaving the house to conduct first-hand research, he’s seeing the same things all day, every day. The place where he works during the day is 20 feet from the place where he lounges at night.

It’s the same kitchen, the same bathroom, the same everything, every day.

It’s enough to make anyone go a little nuts.

All freelancers, at some point or another, deal with cabin fever. We just need to get out of the house, no matter where the destination. The seasoned vets among us might plan for these bouts in advance, scheduling days where they can get away and not fall behind on work.

Those with less experience — which, make no mistake, is a large portion of us — probably need to keep working in order to pay the bills.

The solution, then, is to pack up our work and haul it elsewhere. And so we stuff our trusty laptops into bags and take our work to another environment. That’s productive. It means we’re taking a proactive approach to an unavoidable problem.

Yet not all writing environments are created equal. In my years of freelancing I’ve tried many of them and have found the ups and downs with each.

Here are the official recommendations.

Where Not to Write

If you plan to have a full, productive day out of your home office, you’d do best to avoid these places.

Coffee Shops

What, exactly, about a coffee shop screams productive environment? People are moving in and out constantly. There are usually many others occupying seats and tables. During busy times, you might not even be able to find a seat.

People yap on their phones. People talk amongst themselves. Music you don’t control plays on the PA.

There is nothing productive about working from a coffee shop.

If you want to simply get out of the house and take a break, coffee shops can provide an excellent outlet. You can actually interact with baristas and perhaps even other patrons. You can get a hot, stimulating beverage, or maybe even a pastry if you’re into indulging yourself. You can even focus on something unrelated to your work — I used to bring a journal and empty my brain at a local Starbucks.

But working? I think not.

In an environment that promotes distraction, you’ll likely get nothing done. If you do get anything done, it’s not done as well as it could be. That means you’re at the same place as when you started, only with fewer hours to get everything completed.

Your friends might say they understand that you work from home. No, they say, they know that you have to get work done.

Then in the next breath, they’re asking for a ride somewhere or for you to do them a favor. You know, because you don’t go to work.

It takes considerable willpower and strong consideration of the consequences to avoid strangling them for this offense.

Unless your friends also work from home, they do not understand. Your girlfriend or boyfriend do not understand. So unless they’re absent while you work in their apartment just to change the scenery, avoid this situation.

Working solo might get lonely; in fact, it will certainly get lonely, perhaps painfully so. But sidling up to friends and significant others during working hours helps zero.

Just to be clear, your parents’ house is an equally bad choice.

The Park

I wouldn’t even mention this had it not come to my attention that people actually try to work in the park.

The thought process is understandable. It’s nice outside! I have wireless internet! Let’s go to the park and write! Truthfully, the thought has occurred to me also at times.

It’s typically followed by a facepalm.

If you thought coffee shops were distracting, parks are doubly, maybe triply so. You know how people in offices lament their daytime imprisonment when it’s nice outside? That’s probably healthy. They’re at work for a reason, after all.

If you’re escaping your office for the glory of outdoor writing, you’re probably going to find yourself so distracted by the pretty surroundings that no work gets done.

Also, have you ever tried to use a computer in any kind of sunlight? Unless you have superhuman typing accuracy, it just doesn’t work. Case in point.

Where to Write

“Geez, Joe, you’re such a downer.” Yeah, I get that a lot. But I’m not done yet. Now that I’ve shared my opinion on the worst places to write, I’d like to share some of the more serene environments I’ve enjoyed for top results.

The Library

Who doesn’t love the library? No friend of mine, I can assure you. Libraries are wonderful repositories of books and other information. Anyone with a curious streak can spend hours searching for, well, anything that fancies her.

Libraries also make wonderful work environments. Why the library? Glad you asked. Here’s a quick lists of a library’s virtues for a writer.

It’s quiet. Not only that, but you can actually tell people to shut up if they’re being too loud. It’s your right. The library is supposed to be quiet.

You can face the wall. I’ve never been to a library that didn’t have work stations. Set yourself in one of them, and you’re looking right at the wall. There is no better way to eliminate distractions than by turning your back to them.

They’re free. There’s no need to buy anything, as there is in a coffee shop. You just walk in and set up, even if you don’t have a library card. (But you should get one. Just saying.)

They’re full of information. Need some secondary research? It just so happens that you’re surrounded by material. Use as much of it as you need or want.

If you need to get out of the house to work, by all means, choose the library.

Hotels

Truman Capote used to do his best writing in motels rooms, or at least that’s what Stephen King tells us in On Writing.

There is certainly some merit to escaping traditional writing environments completely. A hotel room brings something old, yet something new. There’s a writing desk, but it’s not yours. The same goes for the bed, the bathroom, the TV, and everything else. It might appear familiar in superficial ways, but it’s really not.

The downside, of course, is the cost. Sure, you can find cheap hotels on travel sites, but that still costs a chunk of change. The only way it makes sense is if two conditions are true:

You have a time-sensitive project.

You are on the verge of breakdown.

Unless you’re independently wealthy — and how many copywriters do you know who can say that? — a hotel is a considerable cost. Most times it’s not justifiable. But that doesn’t make it any worse a writing environment. The familiar but different environment might be just what you need to beat cabin fever.

And if you’re not getting any work done at home, then you’re not making any money there either. Getting out might just unblock your productivity and bring in cash.

Like this idea? Try making nice with the owner of a nearby hotel or motel. Maybe if you write him some marketing copy, he’ll let you use a vacant room from time to time.

Unfortunately, this pretty much covers the list of places I’ve productively written. There just aren’t many places you can go where 1) there won’t be any distractions, and 2) you won’t have to pay a considerable fee.

That makes public libraries the hands-down best place to get work done outside your home. If you need the break, by all means take it at the library.

As for coffee shops, friends’ houses, and public parks, there’s just too great a risk involved. Yes, working there means you’re not working at home, and for many people that’s the most important part.

But it’s also important to get our work done. In a public, distracting setting, that’s just not possible. It sounds ideal, but in reality, it’s anything but.

Of course, these are just my experiences. Surely other writers have other places where they’ve realized success. What are your favorite places to write? Which places do you recommend people avoid?

Post by Joe Pawlikowski

Joe Pawlikowski is a writer and editor working on many blogs across the internet. His latest project, A New Level, covers the art of working from home.

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I’m with you on the library thing. That, or bookstores. Anywhere that you have a quiet space. I have done the coffee shop thing and you can spot the desperate writer immediately. It’s a struggle to maintain focus while eager spurts of work like a hungry man finding food.

Interestingly enough, I also posted on my blog on the weirdest places we’ve (us writers) have written–

That’s a great point about considering the coffee shop crowd your audience. Perhaps that’s why I so despise writing from coffee shops — I’ve never thought of writing as a performance art. But surely that can be a motivating factor for some people.

The problem I have with working in public places like a cafe, the library, the park, is the security. If I need to go to the bathroom, I can’t just get up and go. I have to bring my laptop and my stuff with me. In a crowded cafe, my seat will probably be gone by the time I get back. Asking a stranger to watch my things for me isn’t the best idea either. Who says the stranger actually will watch or pay enough attention to prevent theft? So the best place to work, security-wise, is at home… which isn’t the best productively. Any ideas?

Gotta disagree about the coffee shops. I use them all the time. True, they have a lot of noise. but it’s so much noise that it becomes white noise. Impossible to focus on a conversation. I can phase it all out and get a lot of productive writing done there, much more than at home.

Other favorites include McD, KFC, and food courts in shopping centers.

For me, the absolute worst distraction is my computer. In addition to immediate access to Internet, there are also a load of other things I can check on the machine, all the things that I need to get away from in order to be productive. That’s why I use paper for my most creative work, typing it in at a later time–which, BTW, gives me one more step of editing before I go on to the next section.

I’m sorry if you found the tone bossy, Michael. It’s just me, writing as me. This is something I feel strongly about, since I’ve been doing it for a while. Obviously what works for me might not work for you. But I’d rather write something with my definitive take than spend extra words hedging.

i personally like to write when on the go. I hate coffee shops. well london ones as they are overcrowded overheated and generally play awful music… silence isn’t necessary but some sounds are better than others..
trains and tubes are good for me…

I live in the city and at times, I know of a beautiful library in a smaller town within the county. The route there takes me through some fine British countryside. This in turn gives me immense inspiration.

Have you also considered University/College libraries? I have access via a reference only card, which is very affordable. I have access to all hard copy journals minus the internet.
Together with lots of quiet and well lit areas to write.

It’s always unfortunate to hear about funding cuts for libraries. I have a friend who feels strongly that the government in the US is going too far in their quest to outlaw libraries. It’s quite harrowing to hear it from his POV.

As to college libraries, they can work at times. The community college library near where I live is actually quite good. At my own college, though, I was almost better off studying in my dorm room.

A fascinating article, I always champion the use of libraries.. Here in the UK, many libraries are occupied within grand and beautiful Victorian buildings. It is unfortunate that due to the government cuts, libraries are on the chopping board to be axed. However with a very good battle on the hands: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/protests-save-our-libraries-day

I live in the city and at times, I know of a beautiful library in a smaller town within the county. The route there takes me through some fine British countryside. This in turn gives me immense inspiration.

Have you also considered University/College libraries? I have access via a reference only card, which is very affordable. I have access to all hard copy journals minus the internet.
Together with lots of quiet and well lit areas to write.

I was longing for a good hotel lobby today. See, I live in Kuta, Bali (yeah, feel sorry for me!). But I worked for the last 12 years at Beaver Creek Resort, where anyone could poach a seat for HOURS at the Park Hyatt, Ritz Carlton – you know, nice, quiet places. Perfect for writing!

I am a big believer that working from home shouldn’t always mean literally working from home. For me, it means the freedom to work from anywhere. But it is very easy for the home office to become a self imposed prison.

That is why I favour a nearby hotel lounge that has a stunning view over the sea and coast. It is always peaceful and quiet and that view never fails to inspire creative thinking. Some hotel lounges are really quiet and peaceful and can mean avoiding the cost of a room.

Have to disagree with the working outdoors thing, I think it is one of the biggest perks of working for yourself. I often work in the garden or down at the beach when the good weather arrives. Don’t find it distracting at all. Actually the opposite – really helps my thinking being outdoors. And in relation to screen glare, well I am a big advocate for good old fashioned paper and pen for certain type of activities like planning work, reviewing progress etc.

I guess the bottom line is that different things work for different people. So well worth experimenting with different things.

As I mentioned in a comment below, upon further consideration I think my aversion to writing outside is that I’m kind of a sweaty guy. Even when it’s 70 out, I’m going to start perspiring after 15 or so minutes, making the whole ordeal uncomfortable. Plus there’s the issue of the sun and a laptop screen not mixing. For longhand, though, it sounds like a much better idea.

Once, in the last stages of selfpublishing a complex book, when I couldn’t get away from the phone calls and the questions to find enough mental clarity to actually *write* … I cashed in an unused plane ticket as far as it would go. San Diego to Prague. Locked myself in a hotel room for a week, totally jet-lagged, and wrote (in longhand!) from about 7 in the evening until dawn. Any hotel room will do, though, because you don’t have the usual distractions of a home office.
On the other hand (in real life), I always have printouts of drafts or to-be-edited sections in my car, and I get a lot of work done 15 minutes at a time in parking lots, in waiting rooms, wherever, with whatever kind of noise around.
Just do it, as they say.

I live to drive somewhere scenic (like a park or, more typically for me, the banks of a local reservoir) and slide my seat way back and write there. It’s quiet (inside my car), but the view inspires me.

I’m going to join the chorus of coffee shop supporters and say, “I DO get work done in my caffeinated safe haven!”

My particular barista-hosted scene is, as you describe, full of noise, hustle and bustle, and distractions galore. What it does NOT have is WiFi – which means I’m cut off from my usual procrastination tools of social media and email.

Despite all the chaos, I find that the coffee shop is one of my most productive spots to write. In addition to being unable to surf away my writing time, there is something about having an “audience” that keeps me on my best behavior. Though no one really cares about what I’m doing, there’s a small, ego-driven part of me that wants to look the part of a writer. Eventually, even if I start out faking it, I fall into my rhythm and get stuff done.

It’s a chai latte made with soy milk and a shot of cinnamon flavoring.
Very yummy – hot or iced.
I don’t drink coffee and would always order hot chocolate (also delicious) and the barista crew finally “upgraded” me to an adult drink. I love it.

Vive la difference! I love the variety of opinions expressed in this conversation.

I live in the country, so to get ANYWHERE is a time sink, yet I struggle with the distractions of writing in my home office. I’m seriously considering taking over one of my guest bedrooms to be my dedicated writing space.

Totally disagree about the coffee shops! Lifehacker just posted about a study showing that coffee shops have the ideal level of background noise and minor distraction. I love to work in coffee shops. I am more in danger of harmful distraction from the contents of my mind than from outside. A “circle of distractions” that pulls me out of my head and into the world helps me work.

I agree with you on all but the park. I frequently work at a waterside park-but I sit in my van so that I have shade for my laptop. Open the windows and doors and listen to the waves. Nature inspires me so I write some of my best stuff outdoors.

Ditto on the shade for the laptop. Now that I’ve had time to think of it, I think that part of my aversion to working outside is that I’m kind of a sweaty guy. It gets uncomfortable pretty quick, even in relatively tepid sprint/summer weather.

Ed, do you think it was the mere trip itself, or the specific scenery? I always rejuvenate my creativity while traveling home from a business trip. For some reason the closed-in space of an airplane does it for me.

Great advice! I learned long ago that the only place to write is in my office at home! Trying to do it anywhere else undermines the process. Going to coffee shops and sitting in parks are pleasant and sometimes give the illusion of inspiration, but if you want to write at a respectable level on a consistent basis, the best place is in the seclusion of your home office. Thanks for the tips!

I agree with hotels! I am super productive when on a work trip. If you’ve been to the city before or there is nothing novel about it, you can get a lot done in your hotel room in the evening. I find this also works when staying at a friend’s house when they are not around – like house sitting or pet sitting. It’s not your place so you aren’t as distracted by so many things.

Good tip about libraries! I rarely go to libraries anymore but I do love them. I’m definitely going to check that out one afternoon soon.

I’m all for white noise. So coffee shops don’t bother me unless they are too dark or I get stuck at a table where there is a constant draft from people coming and going. Am always sure to leave an extra couple of bucks if I am parked there for a few hours.

But I have to say I am nostalgic and have this ideal vision of getting work done in a laundry mat. Something about the hum and whir of the machines and that clean laundry small. Sniff, sniff. And I remember as a kid getting the “best” coffee – sweetened with Coffeemate and sugar. Guess coffee/writing is a theme here …

But that is discounting the reality todays ‘mats, where I would likely be shooshed out for squatting.

This reminds me of when I lived in New York. Basically every laundromat in my area had free Wi-Fi, so I thought I’d get some work done while doing laundry. But it was so incredibly warm in there, even with the door open, that I couldn’t concentrate.

My library has a blending light that nauseates me. Otherwise it would have been nice though.
Coffee shops work best for me, I actually like people swirling around and talking loudly. If it’s quiet, the small sounds become so pronounced. When noisy, they just drown out.

Libraries are a great choice. I’ve gone there a few times and it is a very productive time. No phone access which also helps keep you focused. I’ve tried the coffee shop as well, and it can be too noisy, but the upside is that you can have a coffee or other beverage to keep you going. Thanks for sharing your great post!

Amazing to death as a piece of the day !!!! I didn’t know if there somewhere we still some writers troubled by lack of convenient places where they can produce nice pieces of writings. I can write any where so as I have a topic.
Unless I am not independently wealthy . whether it is in a hotel with less or much considerable cost. Most times it’s not justifiable for me . But that doesn’t make it any worse a writing environment. The familiar and different environment might be just what my pen needs to touch .

Let me tell you: this morning , I went to visit one of my colleagues Louis Kamanzi, one of my purpose of the visit was to seek an advice from him because I was financially down for my day to shine.

When I was explaining to him the reason I want to change my career for a while and do something for a living , by paying attention to me, he finally came with an idea telling me that , it is not always to dump my responsibility to others. People may not be ready to take it.

Secondary, when I talked to him how I could writing some pieces and help me to find somewhere to sell it, he finally concluded by saying that he has never read any of my single piece articles.

My pen reacted immediately,my visit turned in to something else. Then I said. “this is a good piece a quote “. He true like like a light of peace though do not like it!!!

I’m also a writer who does better in a coffee shop. A library is too quiet…I could never just have a wall to stare at. I would be distracted because I’d keep trying to look around to avoid the wall. I need to be around people sometimes in order to be productive. Being alone drains me to some extent (I’m mostly an extrovert). I don’t like coffee shops where the baristas don’t talk, though.

I’ve also tried working in my car with scenery (kinda hard cause my laptop isn’t very small), and I’d love to try a hotel lobby! Thanks for the great ideas in the comment section!

Coffee shops are great for writing down themes and the outline in a notepad using an actual pen. Writing this down on paper makes it seems much realer than digital text that you won’t be able to find when you actually want it.

Single person office space is really cheap at the moment, you could get a whole week for the price of one night in a hotel, and you stand a good chance of meeting other self employed people who are doing the same thing. A chance meeting like this where you explain you’re a writer could lead to a new customer?

Having read all the comments it seems that we all do things differently.

I haven’t written here myself, but if I were stuck in a big city with some writing to get done, I’d head to the nearest Hilton. A lot of the bigger hotels now have business rooms where there are computers with an Internet connection, desks, chairs — everything you need to write in. Sometimes they are busy places, but then they are all there doing the same thing as you — trying to find a quiet place to work. It’s not like your typical public meeting place like a coffee shop where people stop to chat (and I haven’t heard any Muzak there yet…)

Most don’t even check to see if you’re a guest there, and are easily accessible. (And you can always bring a coffee in with you…)

Freelancing can seem like not being at work at times, just because you stay at home in the same environment that you use for leisure. The places that were listed as not being good for writing, like coffee shops and parks, have one thing in common- they are places to relax, not work. Perhaps the best way to deal with cabin fever is to schedule time every day to get away from the keyboard and get outside into the fresh air and sunshine. This can be a long-term strategy for beating the distractions while still enjoying the freedom that freelancing can bring.

The last time I tried writing in a library was during college. But then, after 30 minutes, I could not wait to pack my stuff up and head back to my room and continue my work there. But I totally agree coffee shops are a no-no because there’s too much chattering going on around the place.

I’ve heard of people taking mid-day round-trip train rides. You can avoid commuter traffic going from, say, Toronto to London [ON] and back. Four hours, all the wifi you need, the lull of the clackity clack. I could go for for that. I love trains. Otherwise, hotel rooms. They rock. Motel rooms are just sad.

Coffee shops can work for me, and I did most of my writing coursework for a couple of years in them when I had a tiny cramped bedroom and the campus library was overcrowded. But it depends on the individual places–for example, small coffee shops where the tables are packed in tightly leave me feeling claustrophobic. Ones with an upstairs or a downstairs tend to be less cramped and up/down the stairs quieter than the floor with the till. My perfect writing place was a coffee shop local to my parents’, independent but in chain style, with a large upstairs barely used by customers. I could curl up on the sofa in ‘my’ corner and stay until my brain was fried, usually barely disturbed. Unfortunately it recently went out of business … I have been unable to find the ideal local replacement.

I have, in the past (no longer have any nearby) worked at my local Wetherspoons in the mornings–cheaper coffee, comfy chairs and fairly quiet till lunchtime. I always get weird looks when I say I write in the pub, but it works.

Computer desktop for me, in complete silence, if not to run RainyMood.com to cover over the house and neighbor noises. If power goes out & forced to leave, Panera Bread with not only earbuds with RainyMood.com playing, AND headphones to shut everyone else the heck up. Every single move of someone, weirdo’s talking to themselves, kids screaming, people asking you to do something for them, watch their stuff, what time is it, you name it, is the exact worst place on earth to be to get anything productive done. There’s always a place with noise; there’s hardly any place on earth to get AWAY from noise to where one can concentrate to hear themselves think.

Nature is quieter, but then you have the lizards darting your eye, then some birds don’t know when pleasant “light” chirping is too loud, and other animals of interest do come out when you’re sitting there for some time, that make your appreciation of them not help you get your work done.

If monotony happens, just planning a day out can help, but not to get any real work done. Just a change of scenery. While in these inspiring places, sometimes the need to write does occur, so having a smart phone can at least capture some of that to transfer to computer later.

As for other ideas away from any distraction, a mountain top might help. But there’s always someone that comes by, no matter how secluded you think you are. Even helicopters fly by. But if you hike to a remote place, it could be rewarding to sit and write once you get comfortable. But then again, that takes time to get there, unless you are also needing the exercise. But again, that is dependent on the weather.

To me, it’s not the place that inspires you to write… that comes from within. But the place DOES make it possible for you to get whatever is in your head, out.

There’s nothing “bossy” about the article, just suggestions. No one is telling you what to do here, and even asks questions as to what works for you. Thanks for bringing to light and confirming some of the things that may bring help for productivity.

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this. I’m desperate. I’ve bn trying to write with no success. I suddenly thought a park or an eatery would be the best place to write…then I read this and instantly came to my senses. Problem solved.

[…] This bit is really more about the types of writing we do outside of work. This is to say, whether or not you’re a professional writer, I’m always under the assumption that everyone who visits this blog has their own active blog, freelance project, in-the-works novel/book, or other creative writing project. Therefore, I’m sharing a perspective on The Best – and Worst – Places to Write. […]

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